NSU has a higher percentage of American Indian students than any other university in the nation, and since the school hosts an annual week-long symposium on Indian culture, some students who attended last week’s graduation ceremonies were surprised when they were told they would have to leave their culture at the door.

Warren Hawk graduated Saturday with a master’s degree in education. But before the commencement ceremony began, organizers told him he would have to remove the eagle feather and medicine wheel he was wearing.

According to Hawk, a member of the Lakota tribe, organizers threatened to have him removed from the ceremony by campus police if he didn’t comply with the graduation dress code: gown, cap, and a rope of a specific color (depending on the degree obtained) around the neck, but no feathers.

Hawk said he removed his feather until right before he walked across the stage to receive his diploma, when he put it back on.

“There was one other [American Indian] student who came up to me and asked me about it,” Hawk said. “I told her they want uniformity, so take it off for now, but put it back on later, which is what I did. A couple of students did comply, and it was really sad that they didn’t really get to wear their feathers at all.”

Hawk said he understands the reasoning behind the graduation dress rules, but he’s still disappointed that a school that is so intrinsically tied to native culture – like NSU, which actually began as the Cherokee Women’s Seminary – would not allow feathers at graduation.

“I know their intention wasn’t to exclude people,” he said. “Their intention was to keep people from doing outrageous things. But for us, an eagle feather is not something that’s given out haphazardly. You have to earn it; you have to accomplish something. It was given to warriors when they did great accomplishments. With the push among Indian people for education, graduation is an accomplishment, not just for the graduate but for all their people.”

Hawk sent out a mass e-mail about his experience Saturday, and got responses from other American Indian students who said their graduations weren’t quite as strict.

“I got e-mails from Wyoming, South Dakota, all over,” he said. “They said that where they graduated, [wearing eagle feathers during graduation] was actually encouraged.”

But according to NSU Dean of Enrollment Management Services Bill Nowlin, graduation is an academic ceremony with very specific guidelines for dress, and feathers just aren’t part of those guidelines.

“It’s not just about feathers,” Nowlin said. “There are guidelines on academic regalia, and what can be added to it. I’ve checked with other universities in Oklahoma, and they have the same guidelines. Everybody has a culture, everybody has a history, and everybody has sacrificed. We can’t say, ‘These people can [vary from the graduation regalia requirements], but these people can’t.’”

Neal Weaver, NSU vice president for university relations, said he doesn’t see the graduation restrictions as a ban on eagle feathers, but rather a preservation of another kind of culture: academia.

“What we’re concerned about is preserving the tradition of academic regalia,” said Weaver. “Everything we wear has meaning – very much, I would imagine, like native traditions. The ropes, for example, are a different color for a bachelor’s degree than for a master’s degree, and a Ph.D. is another color.”

Weaver said American Indian students can wear traditional items like eagle feathers any place and any time they want on campus – except at graduation.

“That’s the case across the country,” he said. “There’s not a school in Oklahoma that allows non-academic regalia to be worn at graduation.”